Ondo assembly probes financial transactions of 18 LGAs

The Ondo house of assembly says it has commenced the auditing of the financial activities of the state’s 18 LGAs.

Speaking during the opening of the exercise on Monday, Olamide Oladiji, the speaker of the house, said auditing the LGAs’ accounts is the assembly’s constitutional function.

The speaker said the assembly’s role as the state’s representative body necessitates implementing checks and balances to guarantee accountability and transparency at the grassroots.

“It is a sad development when many heads of administration are reluctant to turn up for their records,” NAN quoted Oladiji as saying.

“It is not their money, but public money. That is why we asked you to come for this exercise.

“Don’t see it as something else because some may want to blackmail us. We are not here to do what is not our right, but to do the right thing and for posterity to judge us.

“For eight months, are you saying we should not check your records? Cooperate with us, or else we will use the sledgehammer as a legislative arm of the government.”

Oladiji asked the LG officials to collaborate with the assembly and provide all requested documents to the committee.

“There is no record that you must keep away from us except you have a secret. If you don’t have any document, we ask for now, go back and bring it,” he said.

The speaker said refusal to provide records is an “embarrassment to the assembly,”  adding that the objective of the exercise is to ensure citizens reap the rewards of democratic governance.

Japhet Oluwatoyin, chairman of the house committee on local government and chieftaincy affairs, said the assembly has a constitutional mandate to oversee the LG funds, including appropriation and supervision.

The six LGAs that appeared before the committee were: Akoko north-west, Akoko north-east, Akoko south-west, Akoko south-east, Ose, and Owo.